


from time to time

by britomartisofcrete



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Drunk Sex, Drunken Shenanigans, Friends With Benefits, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Non-Explicit Sex, Pining, Recreational Drug Use, Roommates, it's about the yearning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:14:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28399044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/britomartisofcrete/pseuds/britomartisofcrete
Summary: Nico isn't really sure where he stands with Will. What started as a drunk New Year's Eve mistake evolves into something even Nico couldn't have predicted. Sure, he and Will live together, but what could it really hurt to see how far this goes?Alternatively: In which "friends with benefits" is a bit more complicated and a bit less painful than everyone expects.
Relationships: (relationships besides nico/will are just mentioned), Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 24
Kudos: 160





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from One Direction's "Perfect." Happy New Year, everyone!

From the first time Nico di Angelo slept with Will Solace, he knew he’d messed up. It had been an accident, sort of. On Nico’s part, definitely. He wasn’t sure how Will saw it, though he’d be surprised if it was any different.

He supposed it started at around nine in the evening on the New Year’s Eve of his third year in college, in the off-campus apartment shared by Nico and three of his friends. At the time, it was bustling with activity; Jason had gone out to round up some alcohol with his girlfriend, Leo was rigging the sound and lights system to make the space seem as big and loud as possible, and Nico and Will were stuck on cleanup duty, since neither was any good with electronics nor would they turn 21 for a few months. Nico didn’t really see the point in cleaning, since the crowd of people they’d invited to ring in the new year would inevitably destroy the place again, if the Halloween disaster was anything to go by. But Will insisted that as hosts, they had a responsibility.

Sharing an apartment with Will hadn’t been Nico’s idea; Jason had more or less found him on the street (read: through a friend of a friend) and in their desperation to find someone to fill the last room in their apartment after Beckendorf graduated and moved out, they’d gotten Will to sign the lease. Leo hadn’t known him at all, but Nico had recognized him from some class or another. And after their first housemate wine night together, the three of them felt confident that they had made the right choice.

Or maybe not, because Nico was stuck on vacuuming and mopping while Will got the easy job of doing the dishes after winning a game of rock, paper, scissors. It also didn’t help that as the months on their apartment’s lease went by, he got more and more attached to Will, in a way that was dangerously close to becoming a crush.

Nico had no idea when  _ that  _ had started, although it was probably the weekend in November when Jason and Leo had been staying at their respective girlfriends’ and Nico and Will had spontaneously planned the ultimate bachelor’s weekend complete with way too much cheap alcohol, romantic comedies they both pretended to hate, and several rousing games of Truth or Drink, courtesy of the card deck version of the party game (purchased by Jason). It was during that fateful game that Will and Nico, through the process of recounting all of their most embarrassing and traumatizing memories, came out to each other, and Nico had never looked back. Not for lack of trying though; it was incredibly inconvenient to be interested in one’s roommate, because it’s common knowledge that nothing can really happen without making the whole household incredibly awkward.

But did that stop Nico? Absolutely not.

It was why he could tolerate mopping the kitchen floor while Will laughed at him from his place by the kitchen sink for spilling dirty water on his jeans. It was why he didn’t mind Will flicking soap bubbles at him every time he passed by, pushing the makeshift mop (a Swiffer covered by a dish towel). And it was why he wished no one was coming over tonight so he and Will could just hang out like they normally did without the pressure of other people around. 

That was something they’d done a lot since that bachelors’ night; it started with brief hangouts, things that were low pressure, like studying together or seeing movies they’d been looking forward to, but it quickly turned into more involved things, like scouting out new food places or hanging out with no agenda at the local diner and seeing how many free cups of coffee they could wheedle out of Calypso, their favorite waitress and, coincidentally, Leo’s girlfriend. Once, they’d even gone to a museum in a nearby city together after Nico told Will that he’d never been. They weren’t dates, Nico had to remind himself, yet he still felt he was getting closer to Will than he was with his other roommates, and in a different way. It was nice to have a friend, even if there was no chance at anything more, that actually listened and wanted to try the same weird foods and listen to the same eclectic music as Nico did.

He was pretty sure Jason’s girlfriend Piper had caught on to what Nico was feeling, because she’d gotten in the habit of wiggling her eyebrows whenever she made eye contact with Nico while he happened to be sitting next to Will. He couldn’t imagine Jason had no idea either, but Nico was glad for his friend’s pointed avoidance of the subject.

Nico was just gauging how obvious he thought he was being about his not-crush when Jason and Piper themselves walked through their front door, startling Leo into falling off the step stool he was using to hang lights and the giant “Happy New Year” sign that had been hand painted by a friend of Will’s. 

“Already drunk, Leo?” Nico peered over the counter that separated the living room and the kitchen. 

“Give me an hour,” Leo said, on the ground with his arms tangled in two ropes of fairy lights, his crooked smile still on his face. “This is nothing, believe me.”

“How goes the cleaning?” Piper asked, dropping two bags on the counter, one with two large handles of cheap vodka and the other with various mixers, before pulling out one of the stools by the counter and slumping into it.

“Living room, bathroom, and hall are done, just some kitchen stuff to go,” Will ticked off on his fingers, “and it would be going faster if _someone_ actually knew how to mop,” he continued playfully, lightly hip checking Nico out of the way as he stacked dry dishes and pots on the counter.

Nico huffed indignantly. “I do know how to mop, you’re the one who’s been getting in my way this whole time. And I’m done anyway, so you can get off your high horse.” He splashed the makeshift mop back into the bucket to prove his point.

“Boys, boys, calm down,” Jason said magnanimously, walking over to place his own armful of bags on the counter before beginning to pull out more alcohol and a stack of red cups. “The kitchen looks great, but I hope everyone remembered to clean their rooms, too?” He looked pointedly at Nico, who went red and started to splutter a defense.

“My room is clean!” Silence. “Okay, it’s cleaner than usual, and anyway it doesn’t really matter, does it, because no one’s going to be in my room. Or at least they better not be.” Nico glared at Leo, who’d had an incident a few weeks back where he’d brought a girl into the wrong room. Piper snorted a laugh.

“That was one time!” Leo protested from where he was still on the floor. Nico ignored him.

Ever the diffuser of fights, Will stepped in and changed the subject. “So it seems like everything’s ready to go, right?”

“Yep,” Jason said, going through an actual list on his phone. “We got drinks, everything’s clean, music is set up, Nico and Will have been banned from the Spotify listening session—” here, the two boys in question started to shout in protest, but Jason just raised his voice and kept going— “Percy, Reyna, and the Stolls are all bringing food, Grover promised snacks but he’s vegan so that doesn’t count, and I’ve got texts from almost everyone saying they’re coming.”

“And extra blankets and pillows, Advil, and a case of water is under the coffee table for anyone who crashes here,” Will added.

Piper looked at Will with shining eyes. “You really are the best person who lives in this place.”

“Alright we get it, Will and Jason are the best, everyone else sucks, can someone please help me put this away?” Nico grumbled, already in the process of detaching the dish cloth from the Swiffer and trying to avoid getting any grime on himself. 

“I got you,” Will said immediately, crouching down to help Nico. 

“Yeah, Nico,” Piper cooed. “Will’s got you.” 

At that, Nico lost his footing as he was trying to get up, causing a significant amount of water to slop over the side of the bucket he was holding, directly onto Will, who was still crouching with the Swiffer.

Nico cursed and emptied the bucket in the sink quickly to prevent further accidents, before turning to assess the damage. Will was standing, Swiffer still in hand, looking down at his completely soaked shirt. “Shit, I’m so sorry.” He shifted foot to foot, not sure whether he should help Will somehow or just stay put. He couldn’t very well make eye contact now, what with Will’s shirt sticking to his body like that.

“Nah, it’s cool,” Will said with his usual easygoing smile, once again proving how much better he was than Nico, who definitely would have lost it at being covered in dirty floor water. “I was planning to shower before people got here tonight, anyway.”

“Well you better hurry,” Jason said, saving the conversation from getting any more awkward. “Percy just texted that he’ll be here in five and everyone else isn’t far behind.”

It was Will’s turn to curse, before he dashed out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. As soon as he was gone, Nico slumped against the sink and stripped off his rubber gloves so he could put his face in his hands properly, ignoring the pointed look Piper was probably giving him. It was going to be a long night.

~

“Everyone else” turned out to be just about everyone the four roommates had ever met. The apartment, which Nico had thought to be pretty sizable for a group of college kids, was packed. Even some of Will’s friends, who didn’t really know anyone, had shown up and were blending into the rest of the crowd easily. 

By ten, Nico was about three shots and half a mixed drink deep, tipsy enough to forget about the bucket incident. He was cradling his cup to his chest, sitting on the kitchen counter amid the alcohol bottles, watching the rest of the party attempt to play some game from a TV show that involved standing on furniture and yelling movie quotes at one other. Leo’s fairy lights were the only source of light in the room besides a few lamps, and Nico had to admit they added a nice ambience to the mismatched furniture and various coats and scarves thrown about. The kitchen was mostly empty, except for Thalia Grace, the appointed bartender, and the people coming in and out for refills. Piper’s Venmo was scrawled across the whiteboard on the fridge beneath a note that said, “PAY UP OR FACE CONSEQUENCES.” 

Jason’s room, of course spotlessly clean, had been made the de facto quiet room, and every time a party guest got tired or needed a break, they headed in to play a more chill game of cards or smoke some of Grover’s weed. Nico wasn’t sure how happy Jason would be to find out how many people wearing shoes had sat on his bed, but right now Jason was too drunk to care, and Nico was just glad it wasn’t his own. His room was safely locked and off limits.

Nico often found himself in this sort of between space: not in the thick of the party, not in the quiet, vulnerable space, but hovering somewhere that wasn’t either place. He was glad for Thalia’s company while it lasted, but didn’t mind when she was called into the party by someone asking for a ruling on a game discrepancy. Frank Zhang, his sister Hazel’s boyfriend, had come by a few times for refills on her drinks and on his water— “I’m the designated driver for, like, six people tonight” —and they’d caught up, but for the most part, Nico found himself swaying back and forth to the music, both stuck in his own head and enjoying the fact that these people were his friends, and he was able to hang out with them. A few years ago, that hadn’t seemed possible, but now, as he looked around and saw people chatting over the music and dancing, Annabeth or Will’s friend Lou Ellen or people he didn’t even know looking over and waving at him with broad smiles on their faces, even the Stoll brothers egging Jason on for some kind of dare, a bubble of warmth rose in Nico’s stomach. For just a minute, he let himself be proud of how far he’d come since high school. 

Then Will was next to him, his shining smile looking like it was made just for Nico, and the bubble of warmth melted into something more. Will said something that Nico couldn’t hear over the music.

“What?” Nico almost had to shout.

“Can I get you another drink?” Will gestured to Nico’s now empty cup.

“I should be asking you that, I’ve got the pick of the litter,” Nico swept an arm over the counter where he was perched, surrounded by bottles. 

Will laughed and Nico’s stomach swooped. Was it the alcohol making that happen? Or was he really that embarrassingly into his roommate? “No, listen, Cecil told me about this concoction he made and I want to try it. You down?”

Nico shrugged and handed his cup to Will, watching as he emptied half a bottle of hard lemonade into it, topping it off with a long pour of strawberry flavored hard seltzer and some vodka. Will raised the cup to his lips and took a long swig. “Isn’t that supposed to be my drink?” Nico asked, inhibitions gone enough that he unabashedly watched Will swallow.

“Hey, I had to make sure it was good,” Will said, giving the cup to Nico, who took a sip and immediately groaned.

“Shit, this is dangerous,” Nico said, noticing how his words were starting to lean into one another. “It doesn’t even taste like alcohol. I’ll be asking for another and promptly blacking out right after, thanks.”

Will smiled again and leaned toward him over the counter. Nico felt his breath hitch. “How many drinks for you to dance with me?” 

Nico recovered quickly. “Oh no, Solace, absolutely not. That is beyond what even drunk me is willing to do.”

“You should change that,” Will replied, sliding around the counter closer to where Nico was sitting so his arm was pressed against Nico’s. Nico was short circuiting, but luckily, Will was quick to change the topic. “So, bets on who’s crashing here tonight?”

Coughing loudly to cover up his momentary brain malfunction, Nico took a look around the room. “Definitely Piper, at least one of the Stolls—”

“Hopefully not Connor, after last time,” Will shuddered, a movement that Nico felt viscerally against his back. “Remember Halloween?”

“Don’t remind me,” Nico said. He was still trying to erase the memory of Connor’s vomit right next to their front door, staining the welcome mat that was a gift from Percy.

“Lou’s looking pretty drunk, too, so I’d place bets on her.”

Nico hummed. He still wasn’t exactly sure about where Will and Lou Ellen’s relationship was at; Will talked about being single, but when Lou slept over, it was always in Will’s room. Nico knew it was kind of stupid to be jealous, but he still felt a little possessive over his friendship with Will. He’d worked so hard to cultivate it, and sharing him, even platonically, made his stomach twist. He took a large gulp of his drink and found it was somehow almost empty already.

“Slow down there, sunshine, we don’t want you blacking out before midnight,” Will said, patting Nico on the lower back before going to make the two of them another drink. 

“Shut up,” Nico grumbled. “I can handle it.”

~

Nico could not handle it. The beginning of the end was Piper pulling out the jello shots. Then, Will had mixed himself and Nico both two more drinks, and on top of all that, Jason insisted on a group shot. The room was officially spinning, and it was only eleven thirty. 

Against his better judgement, he’d even joined in some of the dancing, although who he was dancing with was blurry. At first it had definitely been Reyna, then he was spinning a giggly Hazel, then somehow he was leaning against Will, who was doing an odd shimmying movement to some pop song. There the night blurred again until he found himself in Jason’s room sharing a blunt with Calypso and Leo. Before leaving, he stole another blunt from Grover’s stash, probably a lot less sneaky than he had intended, and headed back into the living room, aiming for the window to the fire escape, his favorite place to smoke.

As he ducked under the window frame and out onto the metal platform, Nico found that Lou Ellen, Cecil, and Will were already sitting out there, talking animatedly.

“Oh, sorry,” Nico said, heat rising to his cheeks for no reason. He moved to go back inside, but Lou stopped him by grabbing his ankle.

“No, stay!” She patted the nonexistent space next to her.

“There’s no room,” Nico said, unsure.

Lou Ellen looked around, seeming to realize this. “Well, Cecil and I were just about to go get refills, you take my spot.”

“Wait, what?” Cecil looked confused. “I wasn’t—” Lou elbowed him in the stomach. “Right,” he gasped. “More drink.”

They squeezed past Nico and back into the stuffy living room. As Lou shut the window, she called back to them: “Midnight’s in twenty minutes though! Just in case you didn’t know.” And with that she was gone.

“What just happened?” Nico asked no one in particular.

Will looked up at him. “Honestly, I have no idea. You should sit down, I don’t trust you standing out here.”

“Well, I don’t trust you at all.” It was out of Nico’s mouth before he could determine whether it made sense or not, but he was already sitting down and Will was laughing, so he supposed it didn’t matter. 

It took three tries for Nico to get the blunt lit, and he could tell Will was doing his best not to make fun, but he offered it anyway. Will took it wordlessly and inhaled a good few times.

“Hey, give it back,” Nico grabbed for it but accidentally grabbed Will’s hand instead. Somewhere in his crossfaded brain, explosions were going off and his rationality was screaming at him to scoot away, don’t sit so close, do not let this happen right now. 

Will didn’t seem to get the memo, because instead of giving it back to Nico, he raised it to Nico’s lips for him. Nico didn’t mean to make direct eye contact as he took a drag, but somehow his eyes found Will’s and he couldn’t look away. He watched Will swallow thickly as Nico let his mouth fall open to puff out some of the smoke. Suddenly, Nico was very aware of how close they were sitting, thighs pressed completely together. His head felt too heavy, but his heart was soaring. They barely moved as they finished off the joint together, exchanging almost no words. 

When the joint got so small that it burned Nico’s fingers and he accidentally dropped it to the sidewalk far below them, he leaned his forehead against the metal of the fire escape siding and let out a breath. He couldn’t decipher what was happening at all. He couldn’t think straight at all. He couldn’t even tell what was going on in his own head.

That was when Will placed his hand on Nico’s thigh. “Nico?”

Nico turned his head to look at Will, whose eyebrows were furrowed and mouth was set in a line.

“Will?” Nico frowned. “What’s wrong?” 

“You’re spinning.”

The tension cracked. Nico laughed and reached out his hands, placing them on either side of Will’s face. “You’re spinning, too. Stay still.” 

He wasn’t imagining it. Will’s eyes were flicking between Nico’s mouth and his eyes. 

Nico had just started to move when, just his luck, Jason slammed the window open, letting the party noise back out into the night air, and the two of them whipped around, Nico’s hands back to his lap, burning from the contact. “Hey guys, one minute to— am I interrupting something?” 

Will’s hand hadn’t moved from Nico’s thigh. Nico glanced at him before standing up. “No, what’s up?”

“It’s, uh.” Jason was looking back and forth between them, like he was finally putting together the pieces. “Less than a minute to midnight, if you wanna, um—”

“We’re coming.” Will was standing now, too.

Standing up had been a mistake. Nico was swaying dangerously, and he almost fell four separate times trying to get back inside. The only thing steadying him was the hand Will had put on his back. He finished clambering in before turning around and offering a hand to Will to help him get back in, which he took and then dropped immediately, twisting Nico’s guts.

They were standing at the back of the crowd, all of whom were looking in the general direction of the TV and counting down loudly, all out of pace with one another. Nico assessed the damage from where they stood. A few people were already down for the count on their couches, but for the most part, things were still in full swing. All of the established couples were squeezed tightly together, and some unexpected pairings were inching together as well. Nico wondered if Will expected the two of them to kiss. Nico couldn’t tell if he himself wanted to or not, until he looked at Will and saw him looking right back, eyes focused and steady. 

Nico blinked. He felt the opposite of steady. Suddenly in need of support, he leaned back against the window, trying to clear his spinning head. Will put a hand on his shoulder and said something that Nico couldn’t hear, probably out of concern. Nico could only shake his head.

Leaning closer, Will shouted in his ear over the final ten seconds of the year. “Do I need to take you to the bathroom?” 

Too drunk even to feel embarrassed, Nico nodded and Will pulled him through the crowd and down the far less crowded hall. As midnight hit, Will closed the bathroom door behind them, flicked the light on, and watched as Nico sank to the floor in front of the toilet and threw up.

When Nico was done, Will having waited patiently, too polite to even look at Nico while it was happening, Will handed him a cup of sink water and his toothbrush. For what must have been the next ten minutes, Nico brushed his teeth at least twice and gargled mouthwash until his throat burned, while the muffled cheers from the living room went on uninterrupted. 

“This is your fault, you know,” Nico said when he was done, sinking down onto the edge of the tub.

“What? How is this  _ my  _ fault?” Will said, half indignant, half apathetic, from his seat leaning against the bathroom door.

“You made me all those drinks,” Nico said, rubbing his eyes. 

“I made those drinks for me, too. Notice that I have not thrown up tonight.”

Nico couldn’t manage a response beyond a halfhearted eye roll.

“Anyway, I thought things were going great before two seconds ago.” Will suddenly couldn’t seem to meet Nico’s eyes.

“Great as in I will literally not remember any of this, so none of it will matter,” Nico said, trying his best to brush past the obvious tension in the room. “Come on, let’s go back out.” He got up and offered a hand to Will, pulling him up, and then they were too close again, knees knocking together. Time froze.

“Nico,” Will said in not more than a whisper, not letting go of Nico’s hand. 

Nico finally met Will’s eyes, having to tilt his head back because of their proximity and the height difference. “What?”

“Happy new year,” Will said, smiling. Then, he reached out with both hands and held Nico’s face like Nico had done out on the fire escape. “You’re still spinning.” Will took a half shuffle-step backward until he was leaning against the bathroom door. Nico, trapped by Will’s hands, followed him until their fronts were pressed together and they were breathing the same air. 

Nico didn’t know how it happened. One moment he was blinking slowly up at Will’s face, and the next they were kissing furiously, desperately, like a dam between them had broken and everything was flooding out. Even with his eyes closed and firmly pressed against Will, Nico still felt his world spinning and he searched for stability on Will’s neck, his shoulders, chest, his hair. Any moment now his legs were going to fail him and he was going to collapse, but he couldn’t focus on that with Will’s hands being absolutely everywhere, first his face, then his lower back, then somehow under his shirt. Nico could feel one of Will’s legs between his own, and his knees went weak.

“Will…” Nico murmured. Will just hummed as he moved to Nico’s neck. “Wait— Will, seriously.”

Slowly, languidly, Will pulled back and looked right into Nico’s eyes, making him almost forget what he was going to say. “You good?”

“I mean, yeah, but. We shouldn’t, uh,” Nico could barely find words looking into the piercing blue of Will’s eyes. Will raised his eyebrows, clearly fighting a smile. That made Nico annoyed enough to clear his head and finish his sentence. “Maybe the bathroom isn’t the best place? Could we maybe—”

“Right.” Before Nico could even say another word, Will was pulling him out of the room past a very confused looking Grover, who had clearly been waiting to use the bathroom for a while, and into Will’s room across the hall, slamming and locking the door behind them.

~   
Someone had forgotten to close the curtains over the blinds. That was how Nico woke up: sun shining in through the window and blinding him. He shifted around, trying to figure out why he seemed more cramped then usual, and his elbow hit a still sleeping Will Solace.

Nico nearly screamed.

The first thing that registered was that he had been right. He didn’t remember much after he’d thrown up, only the important things, like what it had felt like when their lips had first met, and Will tugging Nico to his bedroom, and the sight of Will pulling his shirt off, and—

No, stop. He was Nico’s roommate. This could not happen. But unfortunately, he was going to have to figure out fast what to say to him or how to explain, because Will was shifting around, rubbing his eyes, yawning, pushing the blankets off. Nico put a stop to that immediately in an attempt to preserve Will’s dignity, pulling the blankets back up to cover what was burned into Nico’s mind from the night before. Will groaned, eyes still closed, and turned over on his side to face Nico, who was effectively trapped between the wall and Will, and now Will’s arm, which was reaching out to pull him closer. Nico felt Will’s legs start to tangle with his again, and he was tempted to just let it happen and try to fall back to sleep.

But Will didn’t know what he was doing; he had been just as drunk as Nico, a victim of low inhibitions. So Nico, against his body’s will screaming at him to just let Will hold him, propped himself on one elbow, and shook Will awake.

“Hnng,” Will said, cracking an eye open. “Nico? What are…” He trailed off, seeming to notice their state.

“Morning.”

Then suddenly, unexpectedly, Will started laughing. Really laughing, shaking his whole body, his eyes shut. And soon Nico was laughing too, and it went on for several long minutes before they hiccuped themselves into silence, breathing hard.

“What’ve we done?” Will said through a chuckle, lying back and closing his eyes. 

Nico stayed sitting up. “Something awful.”

Will hummed. “Too true, too true. How are we supposed to explain this to Jason and Leo?”

“Oh, no,” Nico warned. “You say anything about this and I will absolutely kill you myself. No one finds out, okay? Now, where are my pants?” He struggled to get out of bed without exposing himself, while also looking for his clothes.

Will was doing absolutely nothing to help, just continuing to laugh. “By the door. I think you lost them when I—”

“Yep, got it, thanks,” Nico interrupted, face burning as he rushed to pull them on. 

“Nico.”

“Alright, see you later, happy new year, whatever—”

“ _ Nico _ .” One of Nico’s hands was on the doorknob, his shirt clutched in the other. He turned slowly to face Will, who was now sitting up but still looking sleep heavy. 

“What?”

Not laughing anymore, Will took a moment to reply. “This doesn’t have to be, like, a thing, right?”

It felt like Nico’s heart dropped down to his feet. “Uh, what?”

Will took another second to run his hands through his tousled blond hair. “Like, we don’t have to make this awkward. We can still be friends, right?” Was it Nico’s imagination, or did Will look nervous? 

“Right, okay,” Nico said slowly. “Friends sleep with each other all the time.” But friends was more than Nico could have hoped for; at least this meant he hadn’t ruined anything after all.

Will huffed a small laugh. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, no, I get it.” Nico’s throat was constricting. “It’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it. I’ll… I’ll see you later.”

~

As soon as he closed Will’s door behind him, Nico knew he was in trouble. For one thing, he’d been talking completely out of his ass to Will. It wasn’t okay, and it wasn’t no big deal. For another, Jason was just walking out of the bathroom as Nico shut the door behind him.

“Good morn—”

“What is  _ that? _ ” Jason gaped at Nico’s still shirtless torso. Nico looked down and saw a hickey right above his hip bone, just barely not covered by his pants.

“It’s none of your business,” Nico scowled, pulling his shirt over his head.

The two of them faced off for a few moments as Jason’s eyes flicked between Nico’s torso, his face, and the door behind him. “Wait, you and Will—”

“I said,” Nico repeated, talking louder to interrupt Jason. “It is none of your business.” He turned to make his way to the kitchen, effectively ending the conversation, and hoped someone had put on a pot of coffee. Now that he was fully conscious, the hangover was hitting him hard, but Jason didn’t seem to get the memo, because he was tailing after Nico and Nico could just feel all the questions he was dying to ask.

As he rounded the corner into their tiny kitchen, Nico took stock of the damage from last night. The counters were mostly clear of alcohol and cups, probably thanks to Annabeth and Piper, who were now chatting animatedly at their seats on the barstools, but the living room was more or less a disaster. Leo’s carefully constructed light plot was in shambles, the New Year banner was now hanging by a single thumbtack, and several people were still sprawled asleep on the two couches. Percy’s long limbs were spread out over one full couch, and Lou and Cecil were curled on top of one another on the other, which Nico didn’t know what to make of. He also vaguely registered that the clock radio over the sink was on and playing some oldies station.

“I’m not cleaning this up,” Nico said by way of greeting everyone. Piper and Annabeth looked over and waved, but the people on the couches didn’t move. 

“Don’t worry,” Jason said, walking around Nico toward the coffee pot which was blissfully full. “You got the pre-party cleanup, Leo and I got the post.”

“Wait, I didn’t agree to that!” Leo’s voice came from the living room, and Nico spotted him at the foot of one of the couches, covered in a thin blanket.

“Leo, what the fuck?” Nico said incredulously. “You literally live here. You have a bedroom.”

Leo shrugged. “It was too far last night.”

Choosing not to respond, Nico pulled his mug out of the cabinet next to the fridge and started to make his own cup of coffee.

“Morning, guys.” Will’s voice behind him startled Nico so badly that he splashed a generous amount of coffee out of his mug and onto the counter. He felt everyone’s eyes on his back as he cursed and grabbed some paper towels to clean up the mess, the back of his neck burning. Luckily, by the time he turned around again with his mug, Jason and Leo had gone back to arguing about cleanup as Will looked on in amusement, and Annabeth and Piper were making fun of how Percy looked when he slept. Will only spared Nico a single glance, a raised eyebrow as if he was asking,  _ you okay? _

Nico shrugged and shook his head in response, indicating that it was no big deal. But looking at Will’s profile as he turned back to Jason and Leo, and hearing his laugh as he ribbed Lou Ellen and Cecil for falling asleep on their couch, and noticing how his hands curled around his fresh mug of tea, Nico thought it might turn into a little bit bigger of a deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be two parts, and I hope to have the second done by New Year's Day to celebrate the end of this catastrophe of a year.
> 
> I hope you all really enjoy this, because I've been thinking about it for a while! It's based on a mix of personal experience, the titular One Direction song (yes I'm still a stan), and me missing being able to hang out with my friends and go out on New Year's. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think, comments are the only recreational drug I need this holiday season!


	2. Chapter 2

The second time it happened was a week later. Again, totally by accident. 

Since the New Year’s party, things between Nico and Will had gone back to normal for the most part, meaning Nico had stopped jumping every time Will walked into a room or turning red when he bumped into Will fresh out of the shower, wrapped in a towel. 

It was a Thursday night, and each roommate was tucked away in his own room. Nico had spent the night attempting to get into the book Annabeth had gotten him for Secret Santa this year, but he was severely struggling to keep his focus on the page and welcomed the distraction when his phone buzzed.

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

can i ask u a hypothetical

Nico smiled despite himself. Ever since they’d really become friends, Will had started texting him periodically. It was usually random songs or videos that Will said reminded him of Nico, which absolutely did not make Nico feel any type of way, but sometimes it was random questions that turned into long conversations. It didn’t seem to bother Will that he was always the one to text first, probably because Nico always ended up responding within a few minutes, apparently thinking about Will as much as Will was thinking about him.

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

hypothetically, you may

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

hypothetically, in theory, asking for a friend,,,,,

u remember new years

Nico’s heart stopped. He had to play it cool. After all, he didn’t really know if Will was referring to what had happened between them. But if he was? Nico typed back with only minimally shaking fingers.

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

not really a question

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

here’s the question

if someone, in theory, was to ask u

not me tho, a friend

if u were interested in a hypothetical repeat of the situation

what might u say

Almost dropping his phone, Nico sat straight up. Will was definitely asking what he thought he was asking. Nico’s stomach was doing backflips, but he forced himself to take a few calming breaths and let himself settle before responding.

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

hypothetically, why are you texting me this when your ~friend~ could just get over here and ask in person?

It was different from the first time, mostly because they were sober. Nico had thought that might make things a bit more awkward, but he’d forgotten to factor in the fact that they were friends now, that hung out and talked to each other on the regular. This time, it was a lot more giggly and subdued, not least of all because both of their apartment mates were home. Nico couldn’t remember how much noise either of them had made the first time, but the party noises had probably covered that up; this time they didn’t have that luxury. It also didn’t last very long and Will didn’t sleep over, but he left with a promise of a movie the next day and maybe takeout, too, if neither of them were busy.

Nico wasn’t really sure what to think of what they were doing, but when he fell asleep that night, it was with a pleasant buzzing in his stomach, like he’d just dropped from the peak of a rollercoaster.

~

The third, and technically fourth, time it happened was the next weekend, when Leo was spending the night with his girlfriend and Jason had pointedly announced to the living room, or just Will and Nico sitting together fresh off of their respective shifts at work and binging a TV show, that he would be visiting his sister and wouldn’t be back until the following afternoon. Will apparently didn’t notice Nico’s face burning after that, and it only took two more episodes for Nico to be straddling Will on the couch and completely ignoring the TV.

After cleaning up, they’d opened a bottle of the wine Will didn’t let anyone else drink and Nico had gotten some reading done with his feet in Will’s lap while Will typed out an email to his parents. That was something Nico was readjusting to: the casual physicality that Will liked, and the comfortable silence they could now exist in together.

When Will was done with his email, he rested his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes. Nico prodded him with his foot every once in a while to make sure he didn’t fall asleep, something Will had asked him to do because, to quote: “If I nap after six, I’ll never get to sleep tonight.” Nico called him an old man and Will had tackled him before suggesting a few ways Nico could tire him out. Of course, Nico couldn’t say no to that, only requested that it please not happen on the couch this time, because he’d never be able to hang out there again without vivid memories. Will only laughed the bright, uninhibited laugh that made Nico’s knees weak before Will even so much as touched him and pulled Nico into his room.

This time, they did something uncomfortably close to cuddling afterward, and ended up falling asleep together. Nico didn’t remember falling asleep, only that one moment they were having a sleepy, mumbled argument about how clean Will’s room was in comparison to Nico’s, and the next he was waking up to the sun, Will’s arm a vice grip around his bare back, holding Nico to his chest. Nico almost didn’t mind his neck being sore the whole next day from his awkward sleeping position.

~

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

would u be interested in making me that thing u made for hazel last time she came over for dinner tonight?

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

you’re only in it for the food aren’t you

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

u got me

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

meet me in the kitchen in 20

you’re buying the ingredients

~

It was getting to be very domestic, Nico thought. He thought it when they started cuddling after every time. He thought it when Will came over and they didn’t end up sleeping together at all, just talking late into the night or doing their own thing, content enough to just be with the other person, until one of them eventually fell asleep. He especially thought it the mornings after, when they’d act like nothing happened at all and Will would put a pot of coffee on to brew as Nico brushed his teeth, even though Will didn’t drink coffee outside of finals week. 

But Nico liked that they could still exist together, that they could still be friends and hang out without anything feeling weird. That took a bit of getting used to, but they’d fallen into a rhythm pretty easily. And Nico definitely wasn’t complaining about Will’s new habit of casual touch: the hand on Nico’s lower back when Will was passing close by him in the kitchen, the brushing of his hair as they were falling asleep, the prolonged hugs and legs tangled together. 

Yeah, there was something wonderfully domestic about it all.

Nico had to wonder what Will was expecting, or what he thought they were. It seemed pretty clear cut from where he stood, even if it wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for: they were friends that occasionally slept together. A few times a week. Totally normal roommate stuff.

After another week, Nico also found himself thinking about how Jason and Leo saw the whole thing; there was no way they just didn’t know, especially because of all the time Nico was spending in Will’s room. And it wasn’t like Will was exactly good at being quiet either, even though he always insisted that he was trying his best. “It’s not my fault you’re good at this,” Will had complained once from his position underneath Nico in response to Nico’s comments about how loud he was, and Nico had blushed so violently that Will became momentarily incapacitated because of how hard he was laughing.

Nico tried to broach the topic with Jason once when they happened to be in the kitchen together, but got about as far as bringing Will up before Jason started insisting that he was happy for Nico and just wanted what was best for him, which Nico didn’t understand the relevance of. Leo wasn’t much better, with his uncontrollable giggling whenever Nico and Will entered a room together, so Nico didn’t bother talking to him about it.

Nevertheless, it continued.

Whatever “it” was.

Sometimes when Jason and Leo were home, but mostly when they weren’t. Will would get bored of whatever movie they were watching, Nico would be waiting for the oven to preheat, one of them would be fresh out of the shower. It didn’t take much, and because they were on break from school, it happened all the time. And every time Nico started wondering about how far this was going to go or where they’d end up on the other side, he forced those thoughts out of his head. He’d worry about it later.

~

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

lou and cecil are planning to go out to mourn the end of winter break

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

and?

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

either u provide the excuse for why i cant go

or u come w me

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

they hate me

i’m always the reason you can’t go to things

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

i dont WANT to go is the difference

To: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

ok fine get over here

From: eternal sunshine of the empty mind

that was easy

~

Then the semester started and things got a bit more complicated.

Will was gearing up to take the MCAT at the end of the school year and Nico was struggling to put together a plan for his final thesis, which included reaching out to professors and advisors he’d never even spoken to before. Needless to say, their stress levels could barely be contained, and it didn’t help that Jason had taken to hovering around, full of nervous energy at the prospect of graduating in a few months, and that most of Leo’s projects involved quite a bit of banging around in his room at all hours. Nico and Will’s schedules conflicted so much that they almost didn’t have time to hang out as friends, let alone sleep with each other. That didn’t mean that things between them were over; factoring in work, school, and the looming, nebulous future, there was a lot of steam to be blown off. When it did, it happened fast, with not much preamble, and without either of them sleeping over very often. 

Nico also couldn’t help but notice that Will was growing more and more distant. He was distracted and seemed constantly on the verge of tears. Nico knew he didn’t take care of himself as much as he should, and he was being hard on himself for no reason, but he had no idea how to broach the subject with Will, or even begin to help him without being blown off.

It was one such night in late February that Nico came into the kitchen at seven in the evening for his first meal of the day, having spent his entire Saturday on a particularly tricky paper. He rounded the corner into the kitchen and froze. Will was sitting at one of the stools by the kitchen counter, a thick textbook open on one side of him, his laptop on the other, and a workbook in front of him. His head was resting on his arms, crossed on top of the workbook. It wasn’t until Nico saw his shoulders shaking that Will was awake. Not just awake; he was sobbing.

He could turn around. It would be so easy. He could just backtrack and sit in his room until Will left. Maybe he’d even find some snack to eat to hold him over and avoid this whole thing.

“Will?”

Will’s head lifted and Nico’s heart broke. His face was red, his eyes bloodshot, and tears were running thick and fast down his cheeks. Nico had never seen anything so pitiful. He suddenly felt very much like crying himself, but he knew that would probably make Will feel worse.

“What’s going on?”

The tears had slowed a bit, but Will half-hiccuped through his next words. “I’m so  _ stupid _ , Nico.”

Whatever Nico had been expecting, it wasn’t that. He frowned and shifted his weight, not quite sure what to say. “No, you’re not.”

Will laughed, a horrible and sarcastic scream of a sound. “You don’t get it. I can’t… I can’t learn this. I can’t make it stick in my stupid fucking brain.” Nico thought that might be the first time he’d heard Will curse like that, out of anger. “I’m just useless. I’ve been at this since seven and I don’t think I’ve retained a single thing. I’m never going to be able to do this.”

“No, you— wait, seven? As in, seven this morning?”

Will sniffled, looking a bit confused that that was the thing that Nico noticed. “Yeah?”

“Do you know what time it is?” Nico asked gently, taking a few steps forward like he was approaching a wounded animal.

“It-it’s…” Will looked around slowly, even checking his wrist despite never wearing a watch. “Where’s my phone?”

“It’s seven at night, Will.”

Will froze, and his eyes moved to the clock over the sink and saw that Nico was right. Then, he promptly dropped his head back to his workbook with renewed sobs. “Tw-twelve f-fucking hours and I couldn’t- I couldn’t even—”

In a split second, Nico made his decision. With a few long strides, he rounded around the counter and put his arms around Will, startling him so much that he stopped talking. Nico could still feel the shake of his shoulders from the involuntary sobs, and the words started pouring out like he’d had them inside this whole time. “You’re not stupid,” he said firmly. “You’re a lot of things. Persistent, tunnel visioned, annoying sometimes, but not stupid. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met, Will, you have to know that.” Will nestled his head in the crook of Nico’s shoulder, soaking Nico’s shirt in tears and snot, but Nico didn’t mind much when he felt Will’s arms wrapping around him, reciprocating. That was a start, Nico supposed.

“Maybe I just wasn’t meant to go to med school.”

Nico snorted and Will looked up into his eyes, confused. “Come on, Will. I know you’re the top of all your science classes. Even Annabeth complains about you wrecking the curve. And even more important than that, you actually care about this stuff. This is your dream for a reason. You want to help people and you’re passionate about this.”

“B-but I—” Will started to splutter.

“It’s one bad day,” Nico said, shaking his head. “I know it sucks, believe me, but I also know you. And you can’t give up just because of one bad moment, or a week’s worth of bad moments, or even a month. I  _ know  _ how you feel, I promise I do—” Nico tried to put as much weight into those words as he could, trying to tell Will without saying it outright that he’d felt the same, and worse, on so many occasions, “—but you can’t give up. I won’t let you.”

Will didn’t say anything. He sniffled again.

“Did you eat anything today?” 

The way Will avoided eye contact gave Nico his answer.

“When was the last time you took a break?”

More silence.

“Will, look at me.” 

Their eyes met and Nico’s heart broke again at the sight of so much hurt in Will’s face.

“Will, when was the last time you slept?”

He just looked at Nico, and suddenly Nico wasn’t sure he wanted to know. 

“And did you ever stop to think that working for twelve hours straight without breaks or food or sleep might be detrimental to your ability to retain information?”

There it was. Will’s face cracked into a smile, and suddenly he was squeezing Nico tight. “I’m sorry, I’m stupid.”

Nico pulled back and looked into Will’s face, still shining with tears, for another long moment before turning to the counter and starting to close the books and the laptop. “New rule, Solace: you’re not allowed to call yourself stupid again in my presence. Or ever. And you’re done working for today, and probably tomorrow, too.”

And then Will was really laughing and wiping his face with his sleeves, and Nico let out a quiet breath of relief. He knew it wasn’t all better, and Will had probably had more of these days in private, and would have more in the future. But at least for now, he knew Will would be alright.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Nico said, stacking Will’s studying supplies. “You’re going to get in the shower, because I don’t even want to know the last time that happened, and I’m going to make you dinner and also get a bunch of sugary stuff from the corner store. Then we’re going to hang out, eat so much bad food, and not worry about school or MCATs or theses until Sunday. Got it?”

Will nodded, his familiar smile back to warming Nico’s insides, and got up to trudge to the bathroom. He stopped in the opening to the hall and looked back to Nico, who was watching him with a dangerous fondness in his stomach. 

“Thank you, Nico.”

~

After a full dinner, one and a half movies, and two pints of ice cream between them, Will fell asleep next to Nico in his bed, Nico’s laptop still playing the second movie until Nico gently closed it and leaned over to put it on the bedside table without disturbing Will. He looked down at the sleeping boy, whose arm was slung over Nico’s middle, and wondered how he’d gotten himself into this situation. He decided that was a train of thought for another day. 

Nico wiggled down to a horizontal position, unsure of how to position himself without making Will uncomfortable or waking him up, until he grunted and pulled Nico into his chest. Tentatively, Nico wound his arm around Will’s torso, and when Will sighed contentedly, Nico did his best to let the tension he was holding go.

It seemed like Will could sense some of that tension, because his eyes fluttered and he started mumbling. “Take your own advice, sunshine. Relax.”

Nico rolled his eyes, but immediately felt more at ease. “I am relaxed.”

“Sure you are.” Will tightened his arms around Nico for a moment. Then, there was a long silence where they just breathed together, and Nico assumed Will had fallen asleep and was busy trying to calm his heart down so he could do the same until Will broke the silence.

“Hey, Nico?”  
“Yeah?”

“Thanks again.”

~

Something had shifted between them. Nico could feel it. He knew Will could feel it too, but neither of them brought it up, content to let it sit there like a large, complicated elephant in the room; whatever had happened that night in the kitchen had left them changed.

That was a little dramatic, now that Nico thought about it, but true. They weren’t sleeping together anymore. And with the amount of work and studying that was piling on, they were barely spending any time together at all. To be fair, Nico wasn’t really spending much time with anyone besides his assigned reading and school books. But it felt strange to be so distant from Will. Especially when he knew Will was still having bad days; he saw it in the bags under his eyes and the tear tracks that hadn’t quite faded by the time Nico passed him in the hallway on his way to the kitchen or bathroom. Nico had his own share of breakdowns to worry about, but it was so much more devastating to see the hurt on Will’s face. Will, who had always seemed so upbeat and peppy, volunteering to clean the kitchen or go on food runs. Who always texted first, but now hardly texted at all.

Nico knew in his heart it would be best to let him be for now. It wasn’t like he didn’t reach out, and they didn’t talk at all. Just less. However much it stung, he knew he had to give Will his space.

~

Then March hit, and spring break came and went. Will always went home to visit his mom, Leo and Jason went to visit friends at other schools, and Nico was left alone in the apartment. He relished in the freedom of playing music without headphones for a few days, but it quickly got lonely. He would’ve invited Hazel over, but she’d planned a road trip with Frank and was out of the state. Instead, he lounged around the place in pajamas and did his best to go outside and breathe fresh air every day while he counted down the days until classes started back up. He couldn’t believe he was excited for more school, but the loneliness was kind of overwhelming. There was too much room for his thoughts to get the better of him when there weren’t other people around to distract him.

When Will came back on Saturday, Nico had been mindlessly scrolling through social media, liking Hazel’s pictures of random monuments and tourist sites, while sprawled across one of the couches. Will burst through the door with an angry huff, dragging a suitcase behind him and cursing under his breath. Nico, suddenly self conscious about the old pair of shorts he was wearing that only covered about half his thighs, had nervously asked what was wrong.

“I hate my cousins,” was the only response Will gave before he went into his room, slamming the door behind him. Nico was unsure of what to do, whether to go after him or let him stew for a while, until Will came out again in sweats and a T-shirt and threw himself down on the couch next to Nico.

“What—”

“Distract me,” Will cut him off. Nico only looked at him in confusion. “I just had to spend a week with the most annoying cousins in existence, and then a four hour drive with Octavian, the worst of them all. I could use a distraction about now.” Will’s eyes met Nico’s, and he saw something burning hot behind them that was mixed with a kind of uncertainty. As Nico sat up to connect their mouths, he felt the uncertainty dissipating. While Will still baffled him in so many ways he couldn’t figure out, this was one dance he knew and could do almost without thinking.

They ended up in Will’s bed that time, and Nico had fallen asleep with his back pressed against Will’s chest and Will’s arm curled protectively around him, wondering if this would make things any less confusing.

~

After that, Nico finally broke down and told Jason everything. Despite how annoying Jason could be about Nico’s love life, or lack thereof, he actually ended up being a decent listener, even though his advice left something to be desired. He kept bringing it up at random moments when he and Nico were together, giving suggestions about how to tackle the problem, while Nico planned escape routes.

There was an unseasonably warm afternoon in the beginning of April that was one such time when Jason attempted to give Nico more advice. He was in Nico’s room, sitting at his desk while Nico lounged on the bed pretending to type a paper. 

“I’m just saying, he’s probably thinking about this as much as you are,” Jason was reasoning, twirling a pencil between his fingers.

“Who said I’m thinking about this?” Nico snorted. “You’re the one who keeps talking about it.”

“Because you’re obviously moping!” Jason said, spinning around to face Nico directly. “Look, when was the last time you slept together?”

Nico’s face burned. He hated talking about that in particular, and Jason being one of his closest friends didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. “I dunno. Besides the one time when he got back from spring break, definitely a few weeks. Maybe February?” It sort of hurt in his chest to admit that. He was pretty sure even Jason wasn’t fooled by the fake nonchalance in his voice. He missed being close to Will. And ever since the MCAT incident, as Nico had started referring to it in his head, they’d been spending less and less time together, not just having sex less.

“Okay, and you want things to go back to the way they were, right?” Jason was definitely way too invested in this. “Like it was over winter break?”

“I guess.” Nico felt his face getting hotter. “But I just… I just don’t know what he’s thinking. I can’t tell what he wants, or where he stands.” It was painful trying to decipher his feelings with Jason, but he was almost glad for it. It helped to have someone else who knew. “I want… more with him, I guess. But I don’t know how to, I don’t know, get there. If he even wants that.” 

“Here’s a thought,” Jason said with an uncharacteristically sarcastic smile. “How about you ask him?”

“Great plan,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “Should I go to his room now and—”

There was a knock on Nico’s door.

“Come in?” 

The door swung open slowly to reveal Will standing there, looking small and nervous.

“Hey, Nico—” Will cut himself off as soon as he saw that Nico wasn’t alone. There was a lengthy moment of silence during which Will’s eyes flickered back and forth between Nico and Jason, as if appraising his options. “I, uh, was hoping to talk to you.”

Nico raised his eyebrows in a way that was much too casual for how fast his heart was pounding; he had an odd feeling of foreboding. “What’s up?”

Will’s eyes flicked to Jason again. “I was kind of hoping, like, alone?”

Like he’d been electrocuted, Jason jumped up from Nico’s desk chair and raced out of the room, muttering something that sounded like  _ sorrysorrysorry.  _ Nico couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that, before turning his attention back to Will, who was shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably and not making eye contact.

“Can we go for a walk?”

~

Will lead them all the way to what Nico knew to be his favorite park in the city a fifteen minute walk away before saying anything. Nico did his best to enjoy the fresh spring air, something that he really didn’t get enough of these days, but Will was fidgeting so nervously with his hands the whole time that his nerves started acting up. By the time they reached the park and Will found a patch of sunny grass to collapse onto, Nico was so on edge that it took him a good minute to sit down next to him. Will was lying down on his back, eyes closed, hands over his face. Nico sat cross-legged next to him, not really sure if Will expected him to talk first.

“So…” Nico tried prompting.

There was a moment of silence before Will groaned. “I can’t  _ do  _ this.”

Nico blinked. “Do what?”

Will sat up, leaning back on one hand in a faux casual position, and gestured between the two of them. “ _ This.  _ Us. Talking. Whatever.”

Choosing to push back his intrusive thoughts about what Will might mean when he said he couldn’t do “us,” Nico focused on the talking part. “We are talking.”

“You’re making fun of me,” Will said.

“What?” Nico was really confused now. “I’m not- I just- you were the one who said you wanted to talk to me! I’m freaking out right now wondering what this is about and you’re not making it any easier.” He hadn’t really meant to say all that, but he figured that if he could tell the truth with anyone, it was Will.

“Come on, you know what this is about.” Will narrowed his eyes at Nico. 

Nico thought about that. Sure, it was a pretty safe bet that this was going to be about their relationship, whatever it was, but beyond that, he was clueless. “Okay, so us. I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Will stared at Nico. “You really don’t know.” When Nico just stared back blankly, Will rubbed his hands in his eyes before looking back to Nico with an exasperated expression. “After how I’ve been acting, how I’ve been talking to you this whole time.” 

“You mean being really distant and talking to me way less?”

Will sighed so loud that a mother on a bench a few yards away turned to see what the noise was. “You have to be kidding me.”

“Will, I’m begging you. Pretend I’m stupid. Pretend I have a third grader’s level of emotional intelligence, because I swear to you I don’t know what’s going on right now.”

“You mean you had no idea about how much I’ve liked you this whole time?” Will asked. 

Nico was silent. It felt like his heart was constricting. Was this a joke?

“You really didn’t notice I’ve been interested for months. Since before we first… you know.” Nico couldn’t help but laugh at that: a future medical doctor who turned to euphemisms for sex. “And now you’re making fun of me again. But I really need you to understand this. I really like you and I have for a while now. And I thought… I guess I thought that the first time meant that, I don’t know, something might happen. And when it didn’t, I was sort of crushed. But I was okay with it, too, because it meant I still got to be close to you. Until it didn’t.”

Another beat. Nico had never heard Will sound so nervous, or stumble over his words so much. It was the most endearing Nico had ever found him. And now Will wasn’t making eye contact again, probably because Nico wasn’t responding. He couldn’t find his words, just like always.

So he reached out and took Will’s hand in both of his own.

“I was sort of crushed, too.”

Will looked up. “What?”

“When nothing ended up happening, I was sort of crushed, too,” Nico said, feeling his cheeks coloring. He wasn’t used to physical contact in public. Or talking about his feelings, especially when they confused even him. “But I just figured you weren’t into me like that. Or it was just something you were doing for fun. Not to mention we’re roommates. Not exactly an ideal situation for getting into anything.” The corners of Will’s mouth turned up slightly and Nico felt his heart rise. He thought making Will smile like this might be the best thing he’d ever done. First that night on the fire escape, then the MCAT incident in their kitchen, and now this. Nico never wanted to stop making him smile. His stomach twisted.

“So you’re saying…” 

“Woah there. You’re the one who wanted to talk,” Nico said, raising his eyebrows. “Let’s start with what  _ you’re  _ saying.”

And then Will laughed, just when Nico didn’t think the swelling in his heart couldn’t get any worse. “I guess I’m saying, I’d want to try. Really being together. That is, if you do.” 

Nico tilted his head for a moment, considering.

“And I know we’re roommates, and it’s going to be a little weird,” Will said quickly. “But I think we can make it work, and if not, there’s definitely no hard feelings and we can just—”

Will’s voice faded away as Nico squeezed his hands and scooted closer to him. “We can just try. That’s all we need to do, right?” 

Will nodded soundlessly with a beautiful grin spreading across his face. “Can I please kiss you now?”

Nico rolled his eyes and pulled Will in. It was a long, wonderful moment before they broke apart, and when they did, they didn’t go very far. Will kept holding Nico’s face like he was afraid to let go.

“Can I ask though,” Nico said, the thought occurring to him, “why this park?”

“I didn’t think I would be able to do this in the apartment without chickening out and running away,” Will said, blushing. “Also I didn’t want to do it anywhere near Leo and Jason. I’m pretty sure Jason hates me.”

Nico laughed. It was like just a little bit of the weight had been lifted off his chest; suddenly, he felt very light, like he could breathe a little deeper. “Jason doesn’t hate you, I promise. If anything he’s going to hate me for not being the one to take initiative here.” 

Pulling Nico into a tight hug and resting his chin on Nico’s head, Will chuckled from deep in his chest, which Nico felt all through his body. “We can tell him you made the first move if you want.”

“Absolutely not,” Nico said through the grudging smile he wasn’t able to hold back. “We’re not telling him anything. The less he knows, the better.”

And then they were both laughing breathlessly between kisses, and Nico could only think that it was impossible that this had taken so long. It seemed so obvious now, so inevitable. But as they walked back to their apartment hand in hand, the spring air and brilliant sun much more enjoyable now that Will was so close to him, Nico decided this might have been worth all the trouble. 

~

A week later, there was a knock on Nico’s door.

He had to exert real effort to extract himself from his blankets and open the door to find Jason, fresh from a morning run, because of course he was, looking expectantly at him.

“It’s the crack of dawn, what do you want?”

“It’s past eight,” Jason said, crossing his arms. “Forgive me for caring about you and wanting to check in.”

“Check in about what?” Nico asked. “Couldn’t this have waited until wine night on Friday?”

“Well, I figured I’d just ask, because I know it was bothering you.” Jason scratched the back of his neck, looking unsure. “I keep meaning to ask you, but did you and Will end up working things out?”

Before Nico could answer, a cheery voice came from behind him. “We did!” 

Jason’s mouth dropped open and he slowly pushed Nico’s door further open to see Will, now sitting up in Nico’s bed, blankets pooled around his waist. Jason turned to Nico, eyebrows raised and indignant. “When were you gonna tell me? I’ve been worried!”

“I’m telling you now,” Nico said, feeling his cheeks getting warm. “We’re, uh, sort of dating.”

“Nico!” 

“Sorry!” Nico put his hands up. “In my defense, I didn’t want you to make a big deal of it, like you’re doing now.”

“I am not making a big deal out of it,” Jason said resentfully. “Will, am I making a big deal out of it?”

Will shrank down into his blankets. “Hey, don’t get me involved, I just live here.”

It took another few good minutes and several promises to provide details later to get Jason out and collapse back into bed with Will. 

“I hate living here,” Nico grumbled into the pillow. “No privacy.”

“No, you don’t,” Will laughed and put an arm around Nico, which Nico curled into gratefully. “Because if you didn’t live here, you wouldn’t have me.”

“Who says that’s a bad thing? All you do is make fun of me,” Nico said. But he knew Will was right. He could take Jason’s interrogations, Piper and Leo laughing at him, even the days when he or Will was so overwhelmed by work and life that they couldn’t do anything but lie in bed and watch the hours pass. Nico had even been prepared to take a life where Will might not want him in the way he did now, if it meant getting to keep Will in his life at all. If it meant just a few more minutes curled up in his warmth under the blankets, waiting for the sun to rise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! I hope you're all having a safe and happy holiday season. I also hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I had fun writing it. Hopefully I'll be writing more in the new year...
> 
> Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!


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